Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- Trump Plans Another 10% Tariff on Products From China — The U.S. president cites the country’s role in the fentanyl trade.
- Thailand Deports Uyghur Detainees to China Over U.S. Objections — Men’s plight had become a high-profile test of Washington’s sway in Asia as it seeks to confront China.
The Financial Times
- U.S. to raise tariffs on China and push ahead with Canada and Mexico levies — Donald Trump says duties on biggest trading partners to take effect on March 4.
- China’s tech minister removed from office — Jin Zhuanglong had been missing from public view for 2 months, FT review shows.
- Hong Kong’s ‘superman’ billionaire and the battle over the Panama Canal — The company founded by 96-year-old Li Ka-shing is caught up in Donald Trump’s complaints about China’s influence.
- Opinion: Chinese importers’ tactic for beating U.S. tariffs: pile it high — Warehouses have become buffers against political volatility. By Lex.
- Opinion: China’s partnership with Russia needs to have limits — As Moscow’s top trading partner, Beijing wields substantial economic leverage over the Kremlin. By Yu Jie.
The New York Times
- When It Comes to Tariffs, Trump Can’t Have It All — The president has promised big results, from raising revenue to reviving domestic manufacturing. But many of his goals undermine one another.
- China’s Military Puts Pacific on Notice as U.S. Priorities Shift — China is flexing its military muscle in the region to show that it will not wait for the Trump administration to decide how hard it wants to counter Beijing.
Caixin
- Mercedes-Benz China Confirms Layoffs in a Changing and Challenging Market — Job losses come as Mercedes-Benz face significant downturn with earnings down 31% in 2024.
- Preventive Health Care Under the Microscope After Vast Alleged Fraud — While prosecutors argued that staff at Ruide Health misled customers, the defense argued that all their claims have a solid basis — and that police pressured people into complaining.
- U.S.-China Tensions Hurt Foreign Firms’ Confidence, Chamber Survey Shows — Despite concerns about the impact of tariffs and a new trade war, most companies said they would not decouple from the Chinese market and plan to reinvest this year, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in South China report.
South China Morning Post
- IBM shuts China research arm after lay-offs and revenue decline — IBM (China) Investment was established in 1992 to oversee local research and development operations.
- ‘Gloves off’ in U.S.-China trade war with Trump’s surprise tariff spikes — Analysts say new tariffs from the U.S. on Chinese goods and other imports may mark the start of the ‘most significant’ trade war in a century.
- Is China’s growing Zimbabwe alliance key to its bigger plans for southern Africa? — Beijing is betting on resources, labour and long ties to makes Zimbabwe a major steel hub, and a strategic foothold in the region, experts say.
- Panda vs samurai: China’s panda-bond market size tops Japan’s amid yuan internationalisation — Panda bonds help foreign firms in China raise capital by targeting domestic investors, and issuance is on the rise.
- China opens up its vast telecoms sector to 13 foreign companies — The move is part of Beijing’s wider drive to reverse a slide in foreign direct investment and boost economic growth.
Nikkei Asia
- Advocacy groups warn of challenges policing China-dominated supply chains — Pressure that worked against Western companies has yet to succeed with Chinese firms.
- China says Trump tariff will undermine global supply chain stability — Beijing urges talks with Washington after the U.S.’s latest duty pronouncement.
Bloomberg
- It’s Xi Jinping’s World, and Trump Is Just Living in It — As Donald Trump blows up the rules-based order, China is pulling ahead in the global battle for ideas.
- Unitree Robots That Dance, Fight Earn Founder Beijing’s Acclaim — Unitree has the potential to do for China’s robotics sector what DeepSeek did in artificial intelligence.
- China’s Zara Tries Going Global in Hopes of Shein-Like Success — Urban Revivo is set to open its first U.S. flagship store today in New York City’s Soho.
- All the Ways China Could Respond to Trump’s Ramped Up Trade War — President Xi Jinping has many ways to strike back should the new threats become policy.
- Chinese EV Makers’ European Sales Stuck in Post-Tariff Plateau — Beneath the surface, a major realignment is playing out.
Reuters
- Exclusive: Alleged Chinese spies gave Philippine city and police cash and motorbikes — The four men were leaders of civic groups overseen by the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign influence network.
- Exclusive: Chinese banks heed PBOC call to cut dollar deposit rates, say sources — This guidance seems aimed at discouraging a further rise in dollar deposits and spurring more conversion of those dollars into yuan, the sources said.
- Exclusive: British energy secretary to visit China in March to restart energy talks, sources say — British officials have said they want to recalibrate many of the previous Conservative Party-led government’s positions on China.
- China urged to think big, go hard on reviving battered consumption — There will be pressure on authorities to unveil consumer-focused policies when China’s rubber-stamp parliament begins its annual meeting on March 5.
- China tech startups race to capitalise on DeepSeek fever, Xi’s meeting — The flurry of roadshows and deal announcements by AI-related businesses has breathed new life into the country’s moribund venture capital sector.
Other Publications
- The Economist: The AfD’s unusual China connection — Alice Weidel, leader of Germany’s AfD, spent six years in the People’s Republic.
- Foreign Affairs: The Real Threat of Chinese AI — Why the United States needs to lead the open-source race.
- New York: Why TikTok’s Legal Purgatory Is a Tech-Sector Nightmare — It’s not just TikTok’s legal status that’s up in the air — it’s the entire relationship between different parts of the government and companies.
- BBC: Cook Islands China deal riles allies as West’s grip loosens — The agreements are the first of their kind with a country that is not a traditional ally.
- CSIS: Dropping the Act: China’s Militia in 2024 — Satellite imagery analysis shows that China’s maritime militia deployed to the South China Sea in record numbers in 2024.
